Seek for more crypto knowledge before investing in new projects, it's not always that easy to choose, as a newbie it's better to stick with old top altcoins on coinmarketcap, why? Because many newbie are in rush to make fast returns, if you are this type pls go for better top coins, 90% of new coins aren't serious at all, they are here to steal money from investors and give fake promises in return
Newbies are safer with top altcoins until they start learning how to choose wisely, do better diggings on new project to avoid scams
Cov-19 have been used to scam many newbies and even Corona virus coins are built too which have no real use cases
Play safe and be willing to learn
I would say that this just doesn't relates to just newbies alone, even some that have been in the crypto space for some times might want to invest in new projects and eventually gets burn and by the way, there isnt a 100% vetting that you can do and guarantee that you can avoid investing in bad projects because some can be a genuine as it can be a still fail down the line to some reasons. When Cardano ADA was first listed on Bittrex Back in 2017 I was reading online how it was a scam coin and I believe most people like me that listened to what was been pushed online then and got out of ADA understands now that, that narrative then wasn't true.
While investing in top Alts is advisable, there are still many new good projects to profit from even as a newbie and most likly of you stick to some reputable exchanges which have worked for me though.